Medical facilities, including hospitals and clinics, implement a variety of medical imaging systems, such as X-rays, CTs, MRIs, ultrasounds, and the like, to create medical images of patients. These medical images may be combined with patient information (e.g., name, date of birth, historical medical records, etc.) as well as imaging information (e.g., type of imaging, body location of imaging, name and location of medical facility, etc.) to create EMRs (electronic medical records). The EMRs may then be sent to radiologists, who may analyze and interpret the medical images. The radiologists may generate a medical imaging report including analysis and information (e.g., diagnoses, findings, conclusions, radiologist name, date and time of diagnoses, comments, etc.) that may be forwarded back to the medical facilities for appropriate treatment of the patients.
Implementing these processes may give rise to a variety of obstacles. For example, medical facilities may store EMRs (electronic medical records) on different systems that often have different protocols. Furthermore, medical imaging that is included in EMRs is often received from a variety of medical imaging systems (e.g., X-rays, CTs, MRIs, etc.) having different manufacturers, models, and years of manufacture. Sharing and distributing EMRs having immense variations creates obstacles to doctors collaborating on patient care. For example, radiologists may need a number and variety of different types of software to receive, interpret and transmit EMRs and medical imaging reports to and from different medical facilities and/or different medical imaging systems.
Amongst the different types of software used by radiologists, dictation software and apparatuses remains popular for completing analyses of medical images to generate medical imaging reports. Conventionally, radiologists receive the EMRs, interpret the medical imaging, and speak the results, along with any other relevant accompanying information, into the dictation apparatuses. Recordings of the dictations may then be sent by the radiologists to medical transcriptionists, who transcribe the information into a medical imaging report formatted according to the requirements of the prescribing medical facilities. By adding a third party (i.e., a medical transcriptionist) to the process, delays, increased costs and a higher incidence of error may be experienced in generating and processing medical imaging reports. These barriers can negatively impact patient care.